Preparations for Defence — Life of the Frontier Settlers — Soldiers'
Quarters — Diversions of Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter — Effects of a
Declaration of War — Grants of Townships on Connecticut River by Massachusetts
— Number One or New Taunton — Conditions of a Grant — First Settlement of New
Taunton, now Westminster — The place abandoned — Re-settled — Proposition to
Settle the Coos Country — John Stark — Convention at Albany — Incursion at
Charlestown — Birth of Captive Johnson — Inscription commemorative of the
Circumstance — Other Depredations — Defences — The Great Meadow — Its
Settlement — Partisan Corps — The Life of a "Ranger" — Continuation
of Incursions — Attack on Bridgman's Fort — Captivity of Mrs. How — Attack near
Hinsdale's Fort — Dispute as to the Maintenance of Fort Dummer — Death of Col.
Ephraim Williams.

THE peace of
Aix-la-Chapelle, concluded on the 18th of October, 1748, and proclaimed at
Boston in January, 1749, although it put an end to the war between England and
France, did not immediately restore tranquillity to the colonies. Early in the
next year, hostile Indians began as usual to hover around the frontier
settlements, and on the 20th of June, a party of them in ambush shot Ensign
Obadiah Sartwell, of Number Four, as he was harrowing corn in his house-lot,
and took captive Enos Stevens, son of the renowned captain. About the same time
Lieut. Moses Willard, in company with his two sons and James Porter Jr.,
discovered at the north of West river mountain five fires, and numerous Indian
tracks; and as Mr. Andros was going from Fort Dummer to Hinsdell's garrison, he
saw a gun fired among some cattle as they were grazing but a short distance
from him. These indications were enough to awaken suspicions of a bloody
season, and the General Court accordingly enlisted a force of fifty men to serve
as scouts between Northfield and Number Four, having their head-quarters at
Fort Dummer and Col. Hinsdell's garrison,

54 HISTORY
OF EASTERN VERMONT. [1749.

and being under the
command of Col. Josiah Willard. They continued on this service from the 26th of
June to the 17th of July, and were then dismissed, it appearing that the enemy
had removed from that portion of the country. Although hostilities had ceased,
and notwithstanding a treaty of peace was concluded with the Indians at
Falmouth in the month of September following, yet the forces were not wholly
withdrawn from the frontiers. A garrison of fifteen men, afterwards reduced to
ten, was continued at Fort Dummer from September, 1749, to June, 1750, and the
same number of men was stationed respectively at Number Four and Fort
Massachusetts during the same period.

Throughout the whole of this war, the Indians
were gene­rally successful in their attacks upon the whites, and yet there were
no instances in which deliberate murder was committed, or cruel torture
inflicted on those who fell into their hands. On the contrary, their captives
were always treated with kindness; blankets and shoes were provided to protect
them from the inclemencies of the weather, and in case of a scarcity of
provisions the vanquished and victor shared alike.

Civilization in this part of the country, even
if it had not retrograded during these struggles, had made but little advance,
and many of the settlements which had been commenced before the war, were
wholly abandoned during its progress. The people not belonging to the garrisons
and who still remained on the frontiers, lived in fortified houses which were
distin­guished by the names of the owners or occupants, and afforded sufficient
defence from the attacks of musketry. The settler never went to his labors
unarmed, and were he to toil in the field would as soon have left his
instruments of husbandry at home as his gun or his pistols. Often was it the
case, that the woods which surrounded his little patch of cleared ground and sheltered
his poor but comfortable dwelling, sheltered also his most deadly enemy ready
to plunder and destroy.*

* The fortified houses were in some
instances surrounded with palisades of cleft or hewn timber, planted
perpendicularly in the ground, and without ditches. The villages were inclosed
by larger works of a similar style. Occasionally, flanking works were placed at
the angles of fortified houses, similar to small bas­tions. "A work called
a mount was often erected at exposed points. These [mounts] were a kind of
elevated block-house, affording a view of the neighboring country, and where
they were wanting, sentry-boxes were generally placed upon the roofs of
houses" — Hoyt's Indian Wars, p. 185.

1749.] LIFE
OF THE FRONTIER SETTLERS. 55

Solitary and unsocial as the life might seem to
be which the soldiers led in the garrisons — distant as they were from any but
the smallest settlements, and liable at almost any moment to the attack of the
enemy — yet it had also its bright side, and to a close observer does not
appear to have been wholly devoid of pleasure. The soldiers' quarters were for
the most part comfortable, and their fare, though not always the richest, was
good of its kind. Hard labor in the woods or field, or on camp duty, afforded a
seasoning to their simple repast, the piquancy of which effeminate ease never
imagined. Those who kept watch by night, rested by day, and none, except in
times of imminent danger, were deprived of their customary quota of sleep.

In the spring, when the ground was to be
ploughed and the grain sown, with a proper guard stationed in different parts
of the field, the laborers accomplished their toil. In the pleasant afternoons
when the genial sunshine was bringing out "the blade, then the ear, after
that the full corn," a game at ball on the well trodden parade, or of
whist with a broad flat stone for a table, and a knapsack for an easy cushion,
served either to nerve the arm for brave deeds, and quicken the eye with an
Indian instinct, or to sharpen in the English mind that principle, which
nowadays has its full development in Yankee cunning. Pleasant also was it to
snare the unsuspecting salmon as he pursued his way up the river; exciting to
spear him, when endeavoring to leap the falls which impeded his advance.

The grass ripened in the hot summer's day, and
the crop was carefully gathered, that the "kindly cow" might not
perish in the long winter, and that the soldier might occasionally renew his
homely but healthful bed of hay. By and by, when the golden silk that had
swayed so gently on the top of the tall stalk, turning sere and crinkled, told
that the maize with which God had supplied the hunger of the Indian for ages,
was ready to yield nourishment to his bitterest enemy the white, then for a
while was the sword exchanged for the sickle, and the shouts of harvest-home
sounded a strange contrast to the whoop of the foeman. And then at the husking,
no spacious barn which had received the golden load, beheld beneath its roof
the merry company assembled for sport as well as labor, but when gather­ed in
knots of three or four, or it might be a half dozen, as they stripped the dried
husk, and filled the basket with the full ears, or cast the dishonored nubbins
in some ignoble corner, who doubts that their thoughts wandered back to the
dear delights

56 HISTORY
OF EASTERN VERMONT. [1749.

which even the
puritan customs of the old Bay Province had allowed them to enjoy, and that
their minds lingered around the pleasant scenes of bygone days, until fancy had
filled the picture to which reality had given only the frame. This also was the
season when the deer furnished the best venison, and the bear the richest
tongue and steak and when there was no enemy near, to be attracted by the
sound, the click of the rifle was sure premonition of a repast, which had it
not been for the plainness of its appointments, would have been a feast for an
epicure.

When winter had mantled the earth, then did time
old woods, which had stood for ages undisturbed, feel the force of the sturdy
blow, and many a noble oak yielded up its life, that the axe which wounded it
might be new-handled, the fort repaired where time and the enemy had weakened
it, and the soldiers warmed when benumbed by cold and exposure. Then, too,
would they prepare the trap for the big moose, or on snowshoes attack him on
his own premises; and when the heavy carcass arrived piecemeal at its
destination, its presence spoke of plenty and good cheer for a long season.

On the Sabbath, if the garrison was provided
with a chap­lain, what themes could not the preacher find suggestive of God and
goodness? The White Hills on one side, and on the other the Green Mountains,
pointed to the heaven of which he would speak, and emblemized the majesty of
him who reigned there. The simple wild wood flowers taught lessons of gentle­ness
and mercy; and when the hand of the foe had destroyed the habitation, and
widowed the wife, and carried the babes captive; when the shriek at midnight,
or in the day-time the ambush in the path, told of surprise or insecurity, with
what pathos could he warn them of "the terror by night," of "the
arrow that flieth by day," of "the destruction that wasteth at
noonday," and urge upon them the necessity of preparation not only temporally
but for eternity.

Joyful was the hour when the invitation came to
attend the raising of some new block-house, or of a dwelling within the walls
of a neighboring garrison. As timber rose upon timber, or as mortise received
tenon, and mainpost the brace with its bevel joint, tumultuously rose the
shouts and merrily passed the canteen from mouth to mouth with its precious
freight of rum or cider. And when the last log was laid, or the framework stood
com­plete, foreshadowing the future house in its skeleton outline,

1749.] GARRISON-LIFE. 57

then how
uproariously would the jolliest of the party in some rude couplet give a name
to the building, and christen it by breaking the bottle, or climbing to the
top, fasten to the gable end the leafy branch, while his companions rent the
air with their lusty plaudits!

Great was the pleasure when the watchful eye of
the officer detected the drowsy sentinel sleeping on guard. Forth was brought
the timber-mare, and the delinquent, perched on the wooden animal, expiated his
fault amid the jeers of his more fortunate comrades. When the black night had
enshrouded all objects, with what terror did even brave men hear the hos­tile
whoop of the Indian, or with what anxious attention did they listen to the
knocking of some bolder warrior at the gate of their garrison, and how gladly
did they hail the approach of light, driving with its presence fears which the
darkness had magnified in giant proportions.

And when thus much has been said of the
pleasures and of the better feelings appertaining to garrison-life, all has
been said. In many instances the soldier impressed into the service was forced
to fulfil an unwilling duty. Sometimes the wife or the mother accompanied the
husband or son, and shared voluntarily his humble fare and hard lot. Yet there
was then but little attention paid to the cultivation even of the more common
graces of society, and the heart "tuned to finer issues" found but
little sympathy in the continuous round of the severest daily duties.

When a war was declared between England and France,
the hostile forces of those countries, on the sea or on the land, in decisive
battles determined for a time, at least, the condition of either nation. But
when the war was proclaimed at Boston, a series of border depredations,
beginning perhaps in the slaughter of an unsuspecting family at midnight,
varied with numerous petty but irritating circumstances, every act closing with
an ambush attack, and a wild foray composing the conclusion, such was the
result in the colonies, such was the drama, a drama of tragedy and blood.
Cruelty on the one hand begat cruelty on the other, until large sums were paid
by the whites for the captive Indian, or for the bloody scalp of the murdered
one. And yet, on the part of the English in America, the war was not one of retaliation.
They prepared their forts and their garrisons, it is true, and sent forth their
scouting parties in every direction; but by the former means did they attempt
to

58 HISTORY
OF EASTERN VERMONT. [1735—1751.

repel the attacks of
invaders, and by the latter to drive them without their boundaries. The history
of the natural, inherent rights of the Indian, involves an argument too deep
for these narrative pages. Still there is no one who can question the right of
the settlers to defend their property, though it might be unwittingly placed on
the land claimed under the law of nature, by which the Indian demanded as his
own territories, those on which he had hunted, and as his streams those in
which he had fished, and on which he had paddled his canoe.

Many petitions having been presented to the
General Assembly of Massachusetts, in the year 1735, praying for grants of land
on the Connecticut and Merrimack rivers, that body, on the 15th of January,
1735/6, ordered a survey of the lands between the aforesaid rivers, from the
north-west corner of the town of Rumford on the latter stream to the Great
Falls on the former, of twelve miles in breadth from north to south, and the
same to be laid out into townships of six miles square each. They also voted to
divide the lands bordering the east side of Connecticut river, south of the
Great Falls, into townships of the same size; and on the west side, the
territory between the Great Falls and the "Equivalent Lands" into two
town­ships of the same size if the space would allow, and if not into one
township. Eleven persons were appointed to conduct the survey and division.
Twenty-eight townships were accordingly laid out between the Connecticut and
Merrimack rivers, amid on the west bank of Connecticut river township Number
One, now Westminster, was surveyed and granted to a number of persons from
Taunton, Norton, and Easton in Massachusetts, and from Ashford and Killingly in
Connecticut, who had petitioned for the same.*

The terms upon which the grant of Number One and
of the other townships, was made, were these. Each settler was required to give
bonds to the amount of forty pounds as security for performing the conditions
enjoined. Those who had not within the space of seven years last past received
grants of land were admitted as grantees; but in case enough of this class
could not be found, then those were admitted who, having received grants of
land elsewhere within the specified time, had fulfilled the conditions upon
which they had received them. The grantees were obliged to build a
dwelling-house

* See Appendix C.

1735—1751.] ERECTION
OF MILLS. 59

eighteen feet square
and seven feet stud at the least, on their respective house lots, and fence in
and break up for ploughing, or clear, and stock with English grass five acres
of land, and cause their respective lots to be inhabited within three years
from the date of their admittance. They were further required within the same
time to "build and furnish a convenient meet­ing-house for the public
worship of God, and settle a learned orthodox minister." On failing to
perform these terms their rights became forfeit, and were to be again granted
to such settlers as would fulfil the above conditions within one year after
receiving the grant. Each township was divided into sixty-three rights — sixty
for the settlers, one for the first settled minis­ter, another for the second
settled minister, and the third for a school. The land in township Number One
was divided into house lots and "intervale" lots, and one of each
kind was included in the right of every grantee. As to the remainder of the
undivided land, an agreement was made that it should be shared equally and
alike by the settlers when divided.

Capt. Joseph Tisdale, one of the principal
grantees of Number One, having been empowered by the General Assem­bly of
Massachusetts, called a meeting of the grantees at the school-house in Taunton,
on the 14th of January, 1737. A committee was then appointed to
repair to the new township for the purpose of dividing the land, according to
the wishes of the grantees. They were also required to select a suitable place
for a meeting-house, a burying-place, a training field, sites for a saw mill
and a grist mill, and to lay out a convenient road. The proprietors held a
number of meetings, sometimes at Capt. Tisdale's, at other times in the old
school-house, and not unfrequently at the widow Ruth Tisdale's. A sufficient
time having elapsed, the allotment of the sixty-three rights was declared on the
26th of September, 1737, and proposals were issued for erecting a saw mill and
a grist mill at Number One, which was now familiarly called New Taunton, in
remembrance of the town where the majority of the proprietors resided. At the
same time, a number of the proprietors agreed to undertake the building of the
mills, and by the records of a meeting held July 8th, 1740, it appeared that
the saw mill had been built, and that means had been taken to lay out a road
from it to the highway. Other improvements were made at this period by Richard
Ellis and his son Reuben of Easton, who having purchased eight rights in the
new township, built there a

60 HISTORY
OF EASTERN VERMONT. [1735-1751.

dwelling-house, and
cleared and cultivated several acres of land. Some of the settlers were also
engaged at the same time in laying out roads and constructing fences, who, on
their return to Massachusetts, received gratuities for their services from the
other proprietors.*

The grantees were preparing to make other
improvements, having in view particularly the construction of a road to Fort
Dummer, when, on the 5th of March, 1740, the northern bound­ary line of
Massachusetts was settled. On finding by this decision that Number One was
excluded from that province, they appointed an agent on the 5th of April, 1742,
to acquaint the General Assembly of Massachusetts of the difficulties they had
experienced, and of the money and labor they had expended in settling their
grant, and to ask from that body directions by which they might firmly secure
their rights, although under a different jurisdiction. The meeting at which
this appoint­ment was made, was probably the last held by the proprietaries
under Massachusetts, and there is but little doubt that the settlement was
abandoned upon the breaking out of the "Cape Breton War."

* At a proprietors' meeting held in
Taunton on Tuesday, December 2d, 1740, the following appropriations were made
:—

"To Mr. Richard Ellis who in a
great measure as to us appears, built a dwell­ing-house, and broke up five or
six acres of land, voted to be paid and allowed by said proprietors for both

years'
service, 1739 and 1740, the sum of £45
0 0

"Voted to be paid Lieut. John
Harney for himself and hand in ye

year
1739,. £10
0 0

"Voted to be paid James Washburn
for his service, and part of the team, £10
0 0

"Voted to be paid Mr. Joseph Eddy
for himself and one hand, and

one
third part of the team,. £15
0 0

"Voted to be paid Seth Tisdale for
his labour, 1739,. . £5
0 0

"Voted Jonathan Harney ye
2d, to be paid,. . £5
0 0

"Voted to be paid Jonathan. Thayer
for his service in the year 1740,

on said township,. . £10
0 0

£100
0 0"

Extract from Records of Township No. 1.
under Massachusetts.

In the list of the proprietors of
Number One, dated November 19th, 1736, appear the names of Joseph and Jonathan
Barney of Taunton. There is a tra­dition that one Barney came to New Taunton as
early as the year 1749, that he built there a house, and erected the frame of a
saw mill. When driven away by the Indians, it is said that he previously took
the precaution to bury the mill irons. A certain stream in the town bore for
many years the name of Barney Brook, and Barney Island, in Connecticut river,
was for a long time used for farming purposes by the early settlers.

1751—1754.] NUMBER
ONE RE-GRANTED. 61

In the spring of the year 1751 John Averill,
with his wife, and his son Asa, moved from Northfield, in Massachusetts, to
Number One. At that time there were but two houses in the latter place. One of
these, occupied by Mr. Averill, was situated on the top of Willard's or Clapp's
hill, at the south end of the main street. The other below the hill, on the
meadow, and unoccupied, was probably the house built by Mr. Ellis and his son
in 1739. In the house into which Mr. Averill moved there had been living four
men, one woman, and two children. The men were William Gould and his son John,
Amos Carpenter and Atherton Chaffee. Of these, Gould and Carpenter moved their
families from Northfield to Number One during the sum­mer of the same year. The
first child born in Westminster was Anna Averill. Her birth took place in the
autumn of 1751.

On the 9th of November, 1752, Governor Benning
Went­worth, of New Hampshire, re-granted Number One, and changed its name to
Westminster. The first meeting of the new grantees was held at Winchester, New
Hampshire, in August, 1753, at the house of Major Josiah Willard, whose father,
Col. Josiah Willard of Fort Dummer, was at the time of his death, by purchase
from the original Massachusetts grantees, one of the principal proprietors of
Number One.* A subsequent meeting was held at Fort Dummer, in the same year, at
which permission was given to those proprietors who had purchased rights under
the Massachusetts title and then held them, of locating their land as at the
first. Further opera­tions were suspended by the breaking out of the French
war, and the families above enumerated were the only inhabitants of Westminster
until after the close of that struggle.†

Although the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, as well
as that with the Indians at Falmouth, had promised a respite from the bloody
scenes of border warfare, yet the government of Massachusetts, knowing well the
treachery of those with whom they had to negotiate or contend, still retained
their forces on the frontiers.‡ Difficulties had already arisen in the eastern
quar-

* Deeds conveying to him twelve of the
original rights are on record.

† See Appendix D.

‡ From the 21st of June, 1750, until
the 20th of February, 1752, Fort Dummer was garrisoned with ten men; fifteen
were stationed at Fort Massachusetts, and the same number at Number Four. The
pay allowed at this period was: to a captain, £2 2s. 8d.;
to a lieutenant, £1 12s. 41d.; to a sergeant, £1 8s.
1d.; to a corporal, £1 8s. 0d.; to a private
sentinel, £1 1s. 4d.

62 HISTORY
OF EASTERN VERMONT. [1751—1754.

ters of New England,
and from a letter written by Col. Israel Williams on the 31st of July, 1750, it
would appear that the Indians were at that time expected also on the western
frontier. But the season passed without any interruption from the enemy. On the
8th of December following died Col. Josiah Willard, who had been for so long a
time the able and efficient commander of Fort Dummer, and was succeeded on the
18th by his son Major Josiah Willard, who had formerly had the charge of a
garrison at Ashuelot.

Intelligence having reached Boston, in August,
1751, that a number of the Penobscot tribe had joined the St. Francis Indians
with the design of attacking the frontier settlements, Col. Israel Williams was
ordered to apprise the garrisons at Num­ber Four, Forts Dummer and
Massachusetts, of their danger. The necessary measures of defence were
accordingly taken, and in consequence of this vigilant activity, no incursions
were made during this summer. A plan was projected about this period of
establishing a military settlement on the rich intervals at Coos, extending
south from Canada, a considerable dis­tance on both sides of Connecticut river.
Many engaged in the enterprise, and in the spring of 1752 a party was sent to
view Coos meadows, and lay out the townships. The Indians who claimed this
territory, noticing these movements, sent a delega­tion from their tribe to
Charlestown and informed Capt. Stevens that they should resist by force any
attempt to carry the plan of a settlement into execution. Governor Wentworth
having heard of their determination, deemed it best not to irritate them, and
the design was relinquished.*

On the 28th of the following April, ten or twelve
of the St. Francis Indians surprised four men who were hunting on Baker's
river, a branch of the Merrimack. Amos Eastman and the
subsequently-distinguished John Stark were made prisoners. William Stark, a
brother of the latter, escaped, but David Stinson, his companion, was killed.
By the way of Connecticut river and by portage to Lake Memphramagog, the
captives were carried to the Indian country. Stark was at first treated with
great severity, but was subsequently adopted as a son of the Sachem of the
tribe, and was so much caressed by his cap­tors that he used often to observe,
"that he had experienced more genuine kindness from the savages of St.
Francis, than he

In February, 1752, the General Court believing
that the fron­tiers were comparatively secure, reduced the garrison at Fort
Dummer to five men. In this condition it remained under the command of Josiah
Willard, to whom a sergeant's pay was allowed, until January, 1754, when the
same body voted that, "from and after February 20th next, no further
provision be made for the pay and subsistence of the five men now posted at
Fort Dummer, and that the Captain General be desired to direct Major Josiah
Willard to take care that the artillery and other warlike stores be secured for
the service of the govern­ment." Notwithstanding this vote, the same force
and the same commander were continued until the following September. The year
1753 was one of comparative quiet. Settlements multiplied and immigration
increased. But in a country, the power of whose masters had only been checked,
no­thing but temporary peace could be expected. A short respite from the
barbarities of a savage warfare, was sure to be followed by a long period of
melancholy disasters. Nor was the present instance an exception to the rule.
The encroachments of the French on the Ohio, and the renewal of hostilities by
the Indians on the frontiers of New England, manifested the presence of a
disposition as fierce and warlike as that which had preceded the struggles of
former years. On this account the home government ordered the colonies to place
themselves in a state of preparation, and counselled them to unite for mutual
defence. In compliance with this advice, Governor Shirley proposed to the
governors of the other provinces to send dele­gates to Albany, to draw up
articles for a protective union and hold a treaty with the Six nations. His
proposition was adopted. Delegates from seven provinces met at the convention
on the 19th of June, 1754. A treaty was concluded with the Indians, and on the
4th of July, twenty-two years before the Declaration of American Independence,
a plan for the union of the colonies was agreed on. Copies of the plan were
sent to each of the provinces represented, and to the King's Council. By the
pro­vinces it was rejected, "because it was supposed to give too much
power to the representatives of the King." It met with a

similar fate at the
hands of the Council, "because it was sup­posed to give too much power to
the representatives of the peo­ple." By this disagreement, the colonies
were obliged to fall back on their old system of warfare. Each government was
left to contend with its enemies as best it might.*

For the defence of Massachusetts and her
frontiers, during the year 1754, Governor Shirley, on the 21st of June, ordered
the commanders of the provincial regiments to assemble their troops for
inspection, and make returns of the state of their forces at head-quarters. The
towns in the province were also ordered to furnish themselves with the stock of
ammunition required by law. It was not until late in the summer that the enemy
renewed their incursions on the frontiers of New Hampshire. At Baker's town, on
the Pemigewasset river, they made an assault on a family, on the 15th of
August, killed one woman, and took captive several other persons. On the 18th
they killed a man and a woman at Stevens's town, in the same neighborhood.
Terrified at these hostile demonstrations, the inhabitants deserted their
abodes, and retired to the lower towns for safety, and "the government was
obliged to post soldiers in the deserted places." At an early hour on the
morning of the 30th, the Indians appeared at Number Four, or Charlestown, on
Connecticut river, broke into the house of James Johnson, before any of the
family were awake, and took him prisoner, together with his wife and three
children, his wife's sister, Miriam Willard, a daughter of Lieutenant Willard,
Ebenezer Farnsworth, and Peter Labaree. Aaron Hosmer, who was also in the
house, eluded the enemy by secreting himself under a bed. No blood was shed in
the capture, and soon after daylight the Indians set out with their prisoners
for Canada, by the way of Crown Point. On the evening of the first day, the
whole party encamped in the south-west corner of the present township of
Reading, in Vermont, near the junction of what is now called Knapp's brook with
the Black river branch. On the morning of the 31st, Mrs. Johnson, who had gone
half a mile further up the brook, was delivered of a daughter, who, from the
circumstances of her birth, was named Captive. After a halt of one day the
march was resumed, Mrs. Johnson being carried by the Indians on a litter which
they had prepared for her accommodation. As soon as her strength would permit,
she was allowed to ride

* Holmes's Annals, ii. 200, 201. Hoyt's
Indian Wars, pp. 260, 261.

1754.] COMMEMORATIVE
STONES. 65

a horse. The journey
was long and tedious, and provisions were scanty. It finally became necessary
to kill the horse for food, and the infant was nourished, for several days, by
sucking pieces of its flesh.*

Captive Johnson was afterward the wife of Col.
George Kimball of Cavendish. Upon the north bank of Knapp's brook in the town
of Reading, beside the road running from Springfield to Woodstock, stand two
stones commemorative of the events above recorded. The larger one is in its
proper place, and the smaller one, though designed to be located half a mile
further up the brook, whether by accident or intention, has always stood at its
side. Tile stones are of slate, and of a very coarse texture. They bear the
following inscriptions.

* When they arrived at Montreal, Mr.
Johnson obtained a parole of two months, to return and solicit the means of
redemption. He applied to the Assem­bly of New Hampshire, and, after some
delay, obtained on the 19th of December, 1754, one hundred and fifty pounds
sterling. But the season was so far advanced, and the winter proved so severe,
that he did not reach Canada till the spring. He was then charged with breaking
his parole; a great part of his money was taken from him by violence, and he
was shut up with his family in prison. Here they took the small-pox, from
which, after a severe illness, they happily recovered. At the expiration of
eighteen months, Mrs. Johnson, with her sister and two daughters, were sent in
a cartel ship to England, and thence returned to Boston. Mr. Johnson was kept
in prison three years, and then with his son returned and met his wife in
Boston, where he had the singular ill fortune to be suspected of designs
unfriendly to his country, and was again imprisoned; but no evidence being
produced against him, he was liberated. His eldest daughter was retained in a
Canadian nunnery. — Belknap's Hist. N. H., ii. 289, 290. Hoyt's Indian Wars, p.
262.

5

66 HISTORY
OF EASTERN VERMONT. [1754.

This is near the spot

that the Indians Encampd the

Night after they took Mr Johnson
&

Family Mr Laberee & Farnsworth

August 30th 1754 And Mrs

Johnson was deliverd of her child

Half a mile up this Brook.

When troubls near the Lord is kind

He hears the captives Crys

He can subdue the savage mind

And learn it sympathy

On the 31stof

August 1754

Capt James

Johnson had

A Daughter born

on this spot of

Ground being

Captivated with

his whole Family

by the Indians.

But the enemy did not confine their depredations
to the fron­tiers alone. On the 28th of August, a party of about one hundred
Indians, from the Nepisinques, the Algonkins, and the "Abenaquies of
Bekancour" made an attack on "Dutch Hoosac," about ten miles west
of Fort Massachusetts. Their first appearance was at a mill which was attended
by a few men. Of these, they killed Samuel Bowen, and wounded John Barnard.
They then drove the rest of the inhabitants from their dwellings, killed most
of the cattle, and set fire to the set­tlement. On the following day San Coick
experienced a similar fate. The garrison at Fort Massachusetts was too weak to
afford any important aid, and a party of militia from Albany, that had marched
to the scene of destruction, did not arrive until the enemy had departed. The
loss at Hoosac was stated. at "seven dwelling houses, fourteen barns, and
fourteen bar­racks of wheat." That at San Coick was about the same.
The property destroyed was supposed to amount to "four thou­sand pounds, York
currency."*

It is more than probable that the
tribes mentioned in the text were the perpe‑

1754.] PLANS
FOR THE FRONTIER DEFENCES. 67

To put a period, if possible, to these
devastating incursions, more extensive means of defence were adopted by
Massachusetts, and the charge of the western frontiers was again given to Col.
Israel Williams of Hatfield. His knowledge as a topo­grapher and engineer,
enabled him, soon after, to present to Governor Shirley an accurate sketch of
the frontiers of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, with plans for their defence.
He recommended the abandonment of Forts Shirley and Pelham, and the erection of
a line of smaller works on the north side of Deerfield river. He further
proposed that the old works at Northfield, Bernardston, Colrain, Greenfield,
and Deerfield should be repaired, and others built where repairs were imprac­ticable;
that Forts Dummer and Massachusetts should be strengthened and furnished with
light artillery and sufficient garrisons; that fortifications should be erected
at. Stockbridge, Pontoosuck, and Blanford in the south-western part
of Massachusetts, and two others to the westward of Fort Massachu­setts, in
order to form a cordon with the line of works in New York; that the fort at
Charlestown, being out of the juris­diction of Massachusetts, should be
abandoned; that, as in the former wars, ranging parties should be constantly
employed along the line of forts, and in the wilderness, now the state of
Vermont, and that the routes and outroads from Crown Point should be diligently
watched. These plans, with the exception of that recommending the abandonment
of Charlestown, were adopted, and a body of troops was ordered to be raised for
the western frontiers, to be stationed as Col. Williams should direct.

Forts Dummer and Massachusetts, works of
considerable strength, and containing small garrisons, were furnished with a
few pieces of ordnance. The other works being diminutive block-houses, or
stockaded dwellings, bearing the names of their occupants, were made defensible
against musketry. These were Sheldon's and Burk's garrisons at Bernardston, on
Connecticut river; Morrison's and Lucas's, at Colrain; Taylor's, Rice's, and
Hawks's, at Charlemont; Goodrich's and Williams's, at Pontoo­suck; and defences
at Williamstown, Sheffield, and Blanford. Some of them were provided with
swivels and small forces under subaltern officers. In other places, less exposed,
slighter fortifications were established, some at the expense of the

trators
of the acts ascribed to them. — See documents in office Sec. State N. Y., in
Colonial MSS. De Lancey, 1754, vol. lxxix.

68 HISTORY
OF EASTERN VERMONT. [1754,
1755.

inhabitants, and
some at the expense of the province. Capt. Ephraim Williams was, as in the
preceding war, appointed commander of the line of forts. His rank was raised to
that of major. Deerfield was made the dépôt for the commissary stores, and a
small force was stationed to protect them. The office of commissary was given
to Major Elijah Williams. The fort at Charlestown, which had been built by
Massachusetts, but which now lay within the boundaries of New Hampshire,
required a protecting force. Governor Shirley wrote to Go­vernor Wentworth
recommending its future maintenance to the New Hampshire Assembly, and
applications of a like nature were made by the inhabitants of Charlestown. The
Assembly, as in former years, refused to listen to these requests. Petitions
were then sent to the General Court of Massachusetts, and as a proof of the
importance of the post at Charlestown, the petitioners stated that the attacks
of the enemy had been sustained at that place, on ten different occasions,
during the space of two years. Mention was also made of the sufferings which
the inhabitants had endured by the loss of their cattle and provisions.
Massachusetts again sent soldiers for the defence of the town, and a guard was
continued there and at Fort Dummer until the year 1757. On the 19th of
September the command of the latter station was given to Nathan Willard, with
the rank of sergeant, and until June, 1755, the garrison numbered eight men. So
effectually had these preparations been made, and so well were they perfected,
that the incursions of the enemy ceased almost immediately. The settlers again
enjoyed a temporary security, and at the close of the year it was deemed safe
to lessen several of the garrisons at the smaller forts."*

The inhabitants of Westminster who were few in
number and but poorly protected, being alarmed by the capture of the Johnsons
at Charlestown, had removed to Walpole immediately after that event. Here they
were accommodated at the house of Col. Benjamin Bellows until October, when
they returned to Westminster. There they tarried until the February following,
when the Averill family moved to Putney, which town, on the 26th of December,
1753, had been granted and chartered by Benning Wentworth. Fort Hill, which had
been erected before the Cape Breton war, had now gone to decay and was mostly
demolished. The settlements in the immediate vicinity

were in consequence
undefended and insecure. For their mutual safety, the inhabitants of
Westmoreland, New Hampshire, joined with the inhabitants of Westminster and
Putney, and in the year 1755 built a fort on the Great Meadow, on the site of
the house lately occupied by Col. Thomas White, near the landing of the ferry.
The fort was in shape oblong, about one hundred and twenty by eighty feet, and
was built with yellow pine timber hewed six inches thick and laid up about ten
feet high. Fifteen dwellings were erected within it, the wall of the fort
forming the back wall of the houses. These were covered with a single roof
called a "salt-box" roof, which slanted upward to the top
of the wall of the fort. In the centre of the enclosure was a hollow square on
which all the houses fronted. A great gate opened on the south toward
Connecticut river, and a smaller one toward the west. On the north-east and
south-west corners of the fort, watch-towers were placed. In the summer season,
besides its customary occupants, the fort was generally garrisoned by a force
of ten or twelve men from New Hampshire.

The only inhabitants on the Great Meadow at the
beginning of the year 1755, were Philip Alexander from Northfield, John Perry
and John Averill with their wives and, families, and Capt. Michael Gilson a
bachelor, his mother and his two sisters. On the completion of the fort,
several of the inhabitants of Westmoreland crossed the river and joined the
garrison. These were Capt. Daniel How, Thomas Chamberlain, Isaac Chamberlain,
Joshua Warner and son, Daniel Warner, wife and son, Harrison Wheeler, Deacon
Samuel Minott, who afterward married Capt. Gilson's mother, and Mr. Aldrich and
son.* At the close of the French war, all who had re­moved from Westmoreland,
returned, with the exception of Deacon Minott. During the summer Dr. Lord and
William Willard joined the garrison. Several children were born in the fort,
but the first child born within the limits of the town of Putney is supposed to
have been Aaron, son of Philip Alex­ander. His birth took place before the fort
was built, and there is a tradition that Col. Josiah Willard, in commemoration
of the event, presented to the boy a hundred acres of land, situated about half
a mile east of Westmoreland bridge. The father

* The son was afterward General George
Aldrich. He died at Westmore­land, N. H., in the year 1807.

70 HISTORY
OF EASTERN VERMONT. [1755.

of Capt. Daniel How
and the father of Harrison Wheeler died in the fort. Both were buried in the
graveyard in Westmore­land on the other side of the river. Religious services
were for a long time observed among the occupants of the fort, and there the
Rev. Andrew Gardner, who had previously been chaplain and surgeon at Fort
Dummer, preached nearly three years. The Great Meadow, at this time, was not
more than half cleared, and its noble forests of yellow pine, with here and
there a white pine or a white oak, presented an appearance which is seldom to
be met with at the present period, in any part of the state. Col. Josiah Willard,
who owned the Mea­dow, gave the use of the land as a consideration for building
the fort and defending it during the war. The land was por­tioned out to each
family, and the inhabitants were accustomed to work on their farms in company
that they might be better prepared to assist one another in the event of a
surprise by the enemy. There was no open attack upon the fort during the French
war, although the shouts of the Indians were often heard in its vicinity in the
night season. On one occasion they laid an ambush at the north end of the
Meadow. But the settlers who were at work on an adjacent island, were so
fortunate as to discover the signs of their presence, and avoided them by
passing down the river in a course different from that by which they had come.*

The expeditions which were planned by Gen.
Braddock, in conjunction with the Colonial Governors, against Fort Du Quesne,
Niagara, and Crown Point, at the beginning of this year, served to a certain
extent to defend the frontiers from the incursions of the enemy. Major Ephraim
Williams, who dur­ing the year 1754 had taken charge of the western line of
forts in Massachusetts, was appointed to the command of a regiment in the
latter expedition. Capt. Isaac Wyman succeeded him as commander of Fort Massachusetts.
Simultaneous with these extensive operations, measures were taken by
Massachusetts to render more effectual the defence of her borders. Garrisons
were strengthened, new levies of soldiers made, the people in exposed towns
were required to go armed when attending public worship, and it was made the
duty of the militia officers to see that this order was observed.†

† "The monthly pay of the troops
on the frontiers, established by the govern‑

1755.] PARTISAN
CORPS AND RANGERS. 71

But the feature which characterized in a
peculiar manner the warfare of this year, was the system introduced in the
conduct and management Of the partisan corps. The govern­ment of Massachusetts
had offered a large bounty for every "Indian killed or captured," and
to gain this reward, did these ranging parties engage in what were commonly
known at the time as "scalping designs." Their field of operation extended
from the Connecticut to the Hudson, and from the Massachu­setts cordon to the
borders of Black river, in Vermont. Each company consisted of not less than
thirty men, and of none but such as were able-bodied and capable of the
greatest endur­ance. Sometimes they marched in a body on one route, and again
in two or three divisions on different routes, or as ordered by their officers.
The commissioned officers kept a journal of each day's proceedings, which was
returned at the close of the march, to the commander-in-chief of the forces,
after having been sworn to before the Governor of Massachusetts, or one of his
Majesty's justices of the peace. No bounty was given until the captured
Indians, or the scalps of those killed, were deli­vered at Boston to persons
appointed to receive them.

Compared with the life of the ranger, that of
the frontier settler was merely the training school in hardship and endur­ance.
In the ranging corps were perfected lessons, the rudi­ments of which are at the
present day but seldom taught; and the partisan soldier of the last century,
though unskilled in the science of warfare, was an equal match for the resolute
Indian, whose birthright was an habituation to daring deeds and wasting
fatigue. The duties of the rangers were "to scour the woods, and ascertain
the force and position of the enemy; to discover and prevent the effect of his
ambuscades, and to ambush him in turn; to acquire information of his movements
by making prisoners of his sentinels; and to clear the way for the advance of
the regular troops." In marching, flankers preceded the main body, and
their system of tactics was embodied in the quickness with which, at a given
signal, they could form in file,

In addition to the regularly
established garrisons, guards were stationed at Greenfield, Charlemont,
Southampton, Huntstown, Colrain, and Falltown, to protect the inhabitants while
gathering their crops.

72 HISTORY
OF EASTERN VERMONT. [1755.

either single or
otherwise, as occasion demanded. In fighting, if the enemy was Indian, they
adopted his mode of warfare, and were not inferior to him in artifice or
finesse. To the use of all such weapons as were likely to be employed against
them they were well accustomed, and their antagonist, whoever he might be, was
sure to find in them warriors whom he might hate, but could not despise. As
marksmen none surpassed them. With a sensitiveness to sound, approximating to
that of instinct, they could detect the sly approach of the foe, or could mark
with an accuracy almost beyond belief, the place of his con­cealment. Their
route was for the most part through a country thickly wooded, now over jagged
hills and steep mountains, and anon, across foaming rivers or gravelly-bedded
brooks.

When an Indian track was discovered, a favorable
point was chosen in its course, and there was formed an ambuscade, where the
partisans would lie in wait day after day for the approach of the enemy. Nor
were mountains, rivers, and foes, the only obsta­cles with which they were
forced to contend. Loaded with pro­visions for a month's march, carrying a
musket heavier by far than that of a more modern make, with ammunition and
appurte­nances correspondent; thus equipped, with the burden of a porter, did
they do the duty of a soldier. At night, the place of their encampment was
always chosen with the utmost circumspection, and guards were ever on the alert
to prevent a surprise. Were it summer, the ground sufficed for a bed, the clear
sky or the out­spreading branches of some giant oak for a canopy. Were it
winter, at the close of a weary march, performed on snowshoes, a few gathered
twigs pointed the couch made hard by necessity, and a rude hut served as a
miserable shelter from the inclemency of the weather. Were the night very dark
and cold, and no fear of discovery entertained, gathered around the blazing
brush heap, they enjoyed a kind of satisfaction in watching the tower­ing of
its bright, forked flame, relieved by the dark background of the black forest;
or encircling it in slumber, dreamed that their heads were in Greenland, and
their feet in Vesuvius. If a comrade were sick, the canteen, or what herbs the
forest af­forded, were usually the only medicines obtainable; and were he
unable to proceed, a journey on a litter to the place whence his company
started, or to the point of their destination, with the exposure consequent
thereupon, was not always a certain warrant of recovery, or the most gentle
method of alleviating pain. But the great object was unattained, so long as
they did not

1755.] THE
PARTISAN SOLDIER. 73

return with a string
of scalps, or a retinue of captives. When success attended their efforts, the
officers and soldiers shared alike in the bounty paid, and strove to obtain
equal proportions of the praise and glory. The partisans of the valley of the
Connecticut were mostly from Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New Hampshire.
Some of them had borne for many years the bar­barities of the Indian, and were
determined to hunt him like a beast, in his own native woods. Not a few had
seen father and mother tomahawked and scalped before their very eyes; and some,
after spending their youth as captives in the wigwam, had returned, bringing
with them a knowledge of the Indian modes of warfare, and a burning desire to
exert that knowledge for the destruction of their teachers. To men in this
situation, a bounty, such as was offered by the government of Massachusetts,
was sufficient to change thought into action, and it did not require the eye of
a prophet to foresee the result. Great were the dan­gers they encountered,
arduous the labor they performed, pre­eminent the services they rendered, and
yet the partisan soldier has seldom been mentioned but with stigma, and his
occupation rarely named but with abuse. This may be due, in some part, to the
deviation from the usages of civilized warfare, which was sanctioned by the use
of the scalping knife. Still the impartial reader should bear in mind the
circumstances and the times which are under review. He should remember the
barbarity of the enemy, the principles of natural justice, or the law of
retalia­tion, the emergencies which were constantly arising, and the necessity
which compelled the partisan to fight the Indian on his own terms. Let these
considerations be indulged, and the rendering of a juster verdict in future,
will show that discrimination has been allowed to take the place too long held
by prejudice and scorn.*

Although the greatest precautions had been taken
to render the frontiers secure against the enemy, yet the year 1755 bore on its
record as large a share of disasters as any which had pre­ceded it. Early in
June, a party of Indians attacked a number of persons, who were at work in a
meadow in the upper part of Charlemont, Massachusetts, near Rice's fort. Capt.
Rice and Phineas Arms were killed, and Titus King and Asa Rice, a lad, were
captured, and taken to Canada, by the way of Crown

* Reminiscences of the French War,
Concord, 1831; pp. 4, 5. "Rules for the Ranging Service," in the
Journals of Major Robert Rogers, London, 1765; pp. 60-70. Hoyt's Indian Wars,
pp. 266-268.

74 HISTORY
OF EASTERN VERMONT. [1755.

Point. King was
afterward carried to France, thence to Eng­land, whence he at length returned
to Northampton, his native place. An account of some of the depredations which
were made at this period in New Hampshire, is given by Hoyt, in the following
paragraph: "In the month of June, a man and boy were captured at New
Hopkinton, but immediately after re­taken by a scouting party. The same month
an attack was made on a fort at Keene, commanded by Capt. Sims; but the enemy,
after some vigorous fighting, were driven off. On their retreat they killed
many cattle, burned several houses, and captured Benjamin Twichel. At Walpole
they killed Daniel Twichel, and another man, by the name of Flynt." On the
17th of August, at noon, the Indians in large numbers attempted to waylay Col.
Benjamin Bellows of Walpole, and a party of thirty men, while returning from
their labor. Failing in this undertaking, they attacked the fort of John
Kilburn, "situated near Cold river, about two miles from the present
centre of the town of Walpole, on the road to Bellows Falls, the exact spot being
said to be just where two apple trees, very visible on the east of the
way-side, now bear the fruits of peace." It was bravely defended by the
owner and his son, John Peak and his son, and several women, who finally
compelled the enemy to retire with considerable loss. Peak was mortally wounded
in the assault.*

On the 27th of June,† the most disastrous affair
that occurred during the season on Connecticut river, took place at Bridgman's
Fort, on Vernon meadow, a short distance below Fort Dummer. On the spot where
the original fort stood, which was burned by the Indians in 1747, another of
the same name had been erected soon after, and being strongly picketed, was
considered as secure as any garrison in the vicinity. It was situated on low
ground, near elevated land, from which an easy view of its construction and
arrangements might be had. From the manner in which the attack was planned, and
from the stra­tegy therein displayed, it is supposed that the Indians, availing
themselves of the opportunity afforded by the high ground, had previously
viewed the place, and by listening at the gate, had discovered the signal by
which admittance was gained to

* Hoyt's Indian Wars, pp. 266-269. A
full account of this fight is given in Appendix E.

† Some writers have named July 27th, as
the day on which this event occurred. Contemporaneous MSS. corroborate the date
given in the text.

1755.] CAPTURE
OF BRIDGMAN'S FORT. 75

the fort. On the
morning of the day in which the attack was made. Caleb How, Hilkiah Grout,
Benjamin Gaffield, and two lads, the sons of How, left the fort and went to
work in a cornfield, lying near the bank of the river. Returning a little
before sunset, they were fired upon by a party of about a dozen Indians, from
an ambush near the path. How, who was on horseback with his two sons, received
a shot in the thigh, which brought him to the ground. The Indians, on seeing
him fall, rushed up, and after piercing him with their spears, scalped him, and
leaving him for dead, took his two sons prisoners. Gaffield was drowned in
attempting to cross the river, but Grout fortunately escaped.

The families of the sufferers who were in the
fort, had heard the firing but were ignorant of its cause. Anxiously awaiting
the return of their companions, they heard in the dusk of evening a rapping at
the gate, and the tread of feet without. Supposing by the signal which was
given that they were to re­ceive friends, they too hastily opened the gate, and
to their surprise and anguish, admitted enemies. The three families, consisting
of Mrs. Jemima How and her children, Mary and Submit Phips, William, Moses,
Squire and Caleb How, and a babe six months old; Mrs. Submit Grout and her
children, Hilkiah, Asa, and Martha, and Mrs. Gaffield with her daugh­ter
Eunice, fourteen in all, were made prisoners. After plun­dering and firing the
place, the Indians proceeded about a mile and a half and encamped for the night
in the woods. The next day they set out, with their prisoners for
Crown Point, and after nine days' travel reached Lake Champlain. Here the
Indians took their canoes, and soon after, the whole party arrived at the place
of destination. After remaining at Crown Point about a week, they proceeded
down the lake to St. Johns, and ended their march at St. Francis on the river St.
Lawrence. Mrs. How, after a series of adventures, was finally redeemed with
three of her children, through the intervention of Col. Peter Schuyler, Major,
afterwards Gen. Israel Putnam and other gentlemen, who had become interested
for her welfare on account of the peculiarity of her sufferings and the
patience with which she had borne them. Of the other children, the young­est
died, another was given to Governor de Vaudreuil of Canada, and the two
remaining ones, who were daughters, were placed in a convent in that province.
One of these was afterwards carried to France, where she married a Frenchman
named Cron Lewis, and the other was subsequently redeemed

76 HISTORY
OF EASTERN VERMONT. [1755.

by Mrs. How, who
made a journey to Canada for the express purpose of procuring her release. Mrs.
How afterwards be­came the wife of Amos Tute, who was for several years one of
the coroners of Cumberland county. She was buried in Vernon, and her tombstone
epitomizes her varied life and ex­ploits, in these words.

Mrs Jemima Tute

Successively Relict of Messrs

William Phipps, Caleb Howe & Amos Tute

The two first were killed by the Indians

Phipps July 5th 1743

Howe June 29th 1755

When Howe was killed, she & her Children

Then seven in number

Were carried into Captivity

The oldest a Daughter went to France

And was married to a French Gentleman

The youngest was torn from her Breast

And perished with Hunger

By the aid of some benevolent Gentn

And her own personal Heroism

She recovered the rest

She had two by her last Husband

Outlived both him & them

And died March 7th 1805 aged 82

Having passed thro more vicissitudes

And endured more hardships

Than any of her cotemporaries

No more can Savage Foes annoy

Nor aught her wide spread Fame Destroy*

On the morning after the attack on Bridgman's
Fort, a party of men found Caleb How still alive, but mortally wounded. He was
conveyed to Hinsdale's Fort, on the opposite side of

* A more detailed account of the
adventures and sufferings of Mrs. Howe, who has been called the "Fair
Captive," may be found in Belknap's Hist. N. H. iii. 370-388, and in the
"Life of General Putnam" in Humphrey's Works, pp. 276— 279.

1755.] ATTACK
AT HINSDALE'S FORT. 77

the river, where he
soon after expired. He was buried about half a mile from the fort, in the
middle of a large field, and a stone erected to his memory is still standing,
inscribed with this record :—

In Memory of Mr

Caleb How a very

Kind Companion who

Was Killed by the Indeans

June the 27th

1755. in the 32 year

Of his age. his Wise M"

Jemima How With 7

Children taken Captive

at the Same time.

At the close of three years' captivity, Mrs.
Gaffield was ran­somed and went to England. The fate of her daughter, Eunice,
is uncertain. On the 9th of October, 1758, a petition, signed Zadok Hawks, was
presented to the General Court of Massa­chusetts, praying them to use their
influence to obtain the release of Mrs. Grout, the petitioner's sister. At that
time, she and her daughter were residing with the French near Montreal, and her
two sons were with the Indians at St. Francis. It is probable that their
release was not long delayed, as one of the sons a few years later was a
resident of Cumberland county.

But this was not the last of the incursions of
the enemy. On the 22d of July, at about nine o'clock in the morning, a party of
Indians attacked four of the soldiers of Hinsdale's Fort, and three of the
settlers residing there, as they were cutting poles for the purpose of
picketing the garrison. At the time of the attack they were not more than a
hundred rods distant from the fort. Four men were on guard, and three were on
the team. They had drawn only one stick when the enemy fired upon them, and
having got between them and the fort endeavored to keep them from reaching it.
Of the soldiers, John Hardiclay* was killed and scalped on the spot. His body
was terribly mangled, both breasts being cut off and the heart laid open.
Jonathan Colby was captured, and the two others, Heath

* In the letter of Col. Ebenezer
Hinsdell, this name is written Hardway. — N. H. Hist. Coll., v. 254.

78 HISTORY
OF EASTERN VERMONT. [1755.

and Quimby, escaped
to the fort. Of the settlers, John Alexander was killed and scalped, and Amasa
Wright and his surviving companion, whose name is not recorded, saved
themselves by flight. An alarm was immediately sounded, and the "Great
Gun" at Fort Dummer, on the opposite side of the river, was fired. Thirty
men from Northfield answered the summons, but their assistance availed only in
burying the dead, for the enemy had gone too far to warrant a pursuit. A week
pre­vious to this occurrence the Indians burned an outhouse with its contents,
situated about six miles above West river, and dur­ing the whole summer hostile
bands scattered in every direction among the settlements, were watching for
opportunities to plun­der and destroy. Information of these transactions was
sent to Governor Wentworth by Col. Ebenezer Hinsdell, and the closing words of
his letter, "we are loath to tarry here merely to be killed," convey
in strong terms, a knowledge of the danger which encircled the settlers, and of
the incompetency of their forces to afford protection.

Although the governor was willing and anxious to
furnish the requisite aid, the New Hampshire Assembly were unwilling to render
the least. Application was then made to the Massa­chusetts Legislature, and
Nathan Willard, the commander at Fort Dummer, in a memorial presented in the
month of August, described the situation of that post. He stated that the enemy
were continually lurking in the woods around and near the fort; that during the
past summer nineteen persons, living within two miles of it, had been killed or
captivated;" that it was impossible to succor them by reason of the
insufficiency of the garrison, which numbered only five men on pay, and that in
case of an attack there was no reason why the enemy should not be perfectly
successful. In view of these representations, the Legislature directed Capt.
Willard to add six men to his present force, to serve until the first of
October following. Similar assistance was granted to other garrisons on the
frontiers.

The expedition against Crown Point, which had
been planned during the spring and summer, was consummated in the fall of this
year. The unwearied efforts of General, afterwards Sir William Johnson, to whom
the command had been given, though attended with success, were not rewarded
with the conquest of the desired station; and the victory of the 8th of Sep­tember,
which defeated the Baron Dieskau and his French and Indian forces, though it
served to cheer the spirits of the Eng‑

1755.] THE
SUPPORT OF FORT DUMMER. 79

lish in America, was
purchased by the loss of some of the best men in the colonies. Of this number
was Col. Ephraim Wil­liams, who was shot through the head as he was leading on
his regiment in the conflict. His death was universally regretted by his
countrymen. His exertions, during a service of many years on the frontier, had
won him the esteem and admiration which is due to virtue and valor; and the
endowment which he made by his will for establishing the college which bears
his name, has kept his memory green in the hearts of succeeding generations,
and added to his renown as a warrior the praises of scholars and
philanthropists.*

As has been previously stated, Fort Dummer,
although situated without the borders of Massachusetts, had been long supported
by that province. The Board of Trade had, on the 3d of August, 1749, declared
it proper and just, that New Hamp­shire should reimburse Massachusetts for its
maintenance; yet no attention had been given to this advice, and Massachusetts
had continued as before to support a garrison at that station. In order to
obtain payment for their services, the Council of Massachusetts, "in
confidence of his Majesty's goodness and justice," appointed a committee
on the 29th of May, 1752, consisting of Samuel Watts, John Wheelwright, and
Thomas Hutchinson, who, with a committee from the House, were ordered to take
such steps as they should deem necessary to accomplish this object. On the 4th
of June, a few days after these appointments were made, the Council, by the
advice of their committee, directed Josiah Willard, the Secretary of the
province, to write to Mr. Bollan, the agent for Massachusetts in England, in
order to learn what course should be pursued with the Board of Trade. Letters
were sent on the 25th, but no answer being received, the Secretary, on the 27th
of December, 1753, again wrote for instructions. In the latter communication,
be stated that Massachusetts had defended the lands west of Connecticut river,
for one hundred years past, at an expense probably of £100,000 sterling; that
at one of the best forts in the government, standing about twenty-five miles
east of Hud­son river,† she had kept a garrison of forty men during the war,
and had retained men in pay ever since the peace; that she had been long
expecting a reimbursement of the charge for supporting Fort Dummer, and
defending the other parts of the

* Hoyt's Indian Wars, pp. 271-282.

† Fort Massachusetts.

80 HISTORY
OF EASTERN VERMONT. [1755.

frontier of
"what is now called New Hampshire;" and that the order of his Majesty
in Council in 1744 was conditional, either that Massachusetts should be
reimbursed her charges, or that the fort with a proper district of land
contiguous should be assigned her. Referring more particularly to that order,
the Secretary remarked in conclusion, that the Fort and a few miles of country
around it, so far from being an adequate com­pensation for the expense the
province had incurred, were so much the contrary, that she would rather esteem
them a bur­den, as thereby she would not only lose all the past expenses, but
be subjected also to a constant future charge. On the 12th of August, 1755, the
subject was again discussed before the Council of Massachusetts, and Thomas
Hutchinson and William Brattle, with such persons as the House might add, were
chosen "to prepare the draft of a memorial and petition to his Majesty,
therein giving a full representation" of the affair, and praying for a
speedy reimbursement of the charges which had been paid by the province. Thus
did Massachusetts from year to year repeat her attempts to obtain what was due
her for her services and expenditures. But her efforts were foiled by the
vigilance of the New Hampshire agents, and her object rendered more and more
unattainable by delay.*